Tube bender and method

ABSTRACT

A tube bender, particularly adapted to bend plastic coated tubing, having a pivotally fixed tube supporting wheel, a plierslike tube gripping means for holding and bending a tube around said wheel, and a roller positioned to encompass the tube between said roller and said wheel to roll said tube to said wheel while bending the same by actuating said gripping means to bend said tube around said wheel.

O Umted States Patent 1151 3,662,580 Power May 16, 1972 [54] TUBE BENDERAND METHOD 1,781,592 1 1/1930 Meier ..72/217 [72] Inventor: Harlan D-POWQI', Bartlesville, Okla. FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS [731 SigmaPhilliPS Pemleum WW8"! 12,121 5/1903 Great Britain ..72/217 [22] Filed:Mar. 17, 1970 Primary Examiner-Charles W. Lanham [2 l PP 20,330Assistant ExaminerMichael J. Keenan Attorney-Young and Quigg [52] U.S.Cl ..72/2l7, 72/298, 72/459 51 ..B2ld 7 02 ABSTRACT [58] Field of Search..72/2l7, 459, 3 331689, A tube bender, particularly adapted to bendplastic coated tubing, having a pivotally fixed tube supporting wheel, aI References Cited phers-hketube gnpplng means for hpldmg and bending atube around said wheel, and a roller positioned to encompass the UNITEDSTATES PATENTS tube between said roller and said wheel to roll said tubeto said wheel while bending the same by actuating said gripping 1,52 l,358 12/1924 Correll ..72/2 1 7 means to bend Said tube around saidwheeL 2,986,195 5/1961 Landis 2,955,495 10/1960 Stirling ..72/36 6Claims, 17 Drawing Figures PATENTEDMAY 15 I972 3, 6 62 58 O v sum 1 OF 3INVENTOR.

H. D. POWER A 7'TORNEVS TUBE BENDER AND METHOD This invention relates toa novel tube bender. It also relates to a novel method of bending atube. In one of its aspects the invention relates to a tube benderhaving a tube gripping means and a roller means. In another aspect ofthe invention it relates to a tube bender suited to bending variouskinds of pipe or tubing, more especially plastic coated tubing. In stillanother of its aspects the invention relates to a tube bender having astationary tube roller means. In a further aspect of the invention, itrelates to a combination of a tube roller, tube bending and a tubegripping means.

In one of its concepts the invention provides a tube bender having agrippable handle means having a land portion at one end portion thereofand grippable means extending from said land portion toward the otherend thereof; a rotatable tube roller mounted on said land; a tubeholding means pivotally fixed by a pivot to said land adjacent saidroller; a wheel on said pivot positioned in a manner to permit a tube tofit between said roller and said wheel; said wheel being fixed to saidtube holding means and thus adapted to rotate about said pivot togetherwith said holding means.

In another of its concepts the invention providesa tube bender asdescribed wherein the tube holding means comprises a tube gripping meansactuatable independently from the action of the tube bender when it isbending a tube. In a further concept of the invention it provides a tubebender as described wherein the tube gripping means comprises a set oftube gripping elements, or jaws, at the respective ends of a pliersportion of said tube holding means, the said ends of the pliers portionbeing located adjacent said wheel whereby the tube can be firmly securedagainst said wheel while being bent therearound.

In a further concept still the invention provides a tube bender which isadjustable in that the rotatable tube roller is mounted in said landslidably away and toward said wheel, e.g., as in a slot in said land,said slot being out along a line joining the axes of said roller andsaid wheel, a suitable fixing element or slide lock being provided toretain the roller in a desired position of adjustment during use of thebender, thus to hold the roller against the tube for rolling the bend.

A further concept still of the invention is in that it provides a methodfor bending tubing, including plastic coated tubing by drawing thetubing firmly gripped around a wheel against which it is held and,therefore, formed by a rotatable wheel.

In a further concept of the invention there is provided in conjunctionwith a tube bending wheel or segment around which a tube is to be bent aplierslike holding means having gripping elements or jaws as hereindescribed.

Tube benders have been available for a long time and are exemplified,for example, in patents such as the following:

U.S. Pat. No. 1,879,868 issued Sept. 27, 1932,

U.S. Pat. No. 2,887,914 issued May 26, i959,

U.S. Pat. No. 3,374,532 issued Mar. 26, 1968 Further, various tubebenders are illustrated in catalogues of manufacturers of the same.

The tube benders available in the prior art have been foundunsatisfactory for bending delicate tubing, for example, tubing whichhas been coated with a coating which can be marred, cracked, orotherwise destroyed, e.g., a plastic coating or other coating such aspaint, enamel, etc. I have conceived and designed a tube bender whichwill bend plain tubing as well as coated tubing without changing parts.A plier-like grip to grip the tubing is provided with a roller to bendthe tube. A wheel is provided around which the tube is to be bent byaction of the roller which actually rolls the bend by rolling the tubearound the wheel. In its preferred form the roller rotates upon a ballbearing for ease of rolling. A slide lock or other adjustment isprovided for fixing the roller precisely to the tubing, thus toencompass the same between the roller and said wheel prior to grippingthe tube with the plier-like grip before bending the same. I have foundthat my tube bender or method of bending a tube which has been coated,as with plastic, will not break the plastic coating, nor will it scaruncoated or plain tubing. The tube is not flattened in the bend, ratherit rolls out with a nice smooth bend. This is so whether the tube iscoated or uncoated. 1

One of the problems in the prior art has been to provide a tube benderwhich will permit operation while holding the tube securely withoutmarring or otherwise injuring the same. or its surface. I have provideda readily, quickly operable tube gripping section within a tube bender,the tube gripper being like unto a pliers having elements or jaws of thepliers to encompass substantially the entire periphery of the tube atthe place of gripping. In the preferred embodiment, the elements aresemicircular jaws gripping the tubing therebetween over a substantiallength thereof of the order of a quarter inch or more, usually dependingupon the diameter of the tubing. The pliers-like gripping device can besubstituted for the usual tube holder and can be used with tube benderswherein the bending element or the bending handle, i.e., the bendingshoe, slides upon the tubing as the tubing is bent, thereby around acurved object, e.g., a wheel.

An object of the invention is to provide a tube bender. Another objectof the invention is to provide a method for bending a tube. A furtherobject of the invention is to provide a tube bender and methodparticularly suited to bending a tube without marring or scarring thesame or injuring a coating on the surface thereof, for example, aplastic or painted coating. Still further an object of the invention isto provide a tube bender and method of bending a tube which will give anice smooth bend without any flattening of the tube in or near the bend.

Other aspects, concepts and objects of the invention are apparent from astudy of this disclosure, the drawing and the appended claims.

According to the invention there'is provided a tube bender having apliers-like tube gripping means, a means around which to bend the tubeand a tube bending means. Still according to the invention the tubebender comprises a combination of a wheel around which a tube can bebent and a rotatable bending roller mounted in juxtaposition to saidwheel adapted to roll the'tubing against said wheel as the tubing isdrawn between said roller and said wheel when said wheel is rotated asby motion of the tube gripping means to which said wheel can beattached.

The invention is applicable to putting various degrees of bend intovarious kinds of pipe or tubing; thus, pipes of metal, plastic, or othermaterials can be bent up to or more, depending upon the structure and/orconfiguration of, say wheel 6.

Referring now to the drawings in which a now preferred embodiment of theconcepts of the invention have been combined to produce a tube bender.

FIG. 1 is an isometric view of a tube bender according to the inventionshowing one form of the combinations possible of the grippable handlemeans, the rotatable roller wheel which is bearing mounted, the wheelaround which the tube is bent or curved and the plier-like tube holdingor gripping means.

FIG. 2 shows the grippable handle means by itself in plan view to permitthe viewer to see the wheel pivot securing threaded hole and therotatable roller slot in which the roller can be securely fixed inposition whereby the distance between the wheel and roller is made toaccommodate quite precisely the diameter of the tube.

FIG. 2a is a longitudinal side view of the grippable handle meansshowing particularly the two-level land or platform portion of thegrippable handle means upon and to which the roller and wheel arerespectively fixed, the wheel being fixed mediately to the land, as canbe observed in FIG. 1 with the extended portion of the plierortube-holding means fixed to the pivot between said wheel and said land.

FIGS. 3 and 3a illustrate the details of the element which acts beneaththe slot in the land to slidably lock the rotating roller in a desiredposition thereof.

FIG. 4 shows in plan view the longer of the two elements of the plierortube-holding means.

FIG. 5 shows the shorter of the two elements of the tubeholding means.

FIGS. 6 and 7 show in plan view and FIGS. 6a and 70 show in elevationalcross-section, respectively, the roller and the wheel.

FIG. 8shows the holding and tightening shanked bolt for securing theoperative positions, respectively, of the fixed wheel and rotatingroller of the tube bender of the invention.

FIG. 9 shows the shanked bolt of the plierlike gripping means.

FIGS. 10 and 10a and FIGS. 11 and 11a show the structure of the tubegripping elements of the plier-like tube-holding means.

FIGS. 10 and 10a show, respectively, in end and plan view the larger ofthe elements or jaws and FIGS. 11 and 11a show, respectively, the sameviews of the smaller of said elements.

Referring now to FIGS. 1, 2 and 2a, grippable handle means 1 is providedwith a land means generally indicated at 2. The land means 2 possessesan upper and lower level 3 and 4, respectively, on which are mountedrotating roller 5 and wheel 6. The plier-like tube gripping or holdingmeans generally indicated at 7 is composed of elements 8 and 9. Element9 extends to and is encompassed between land portion 4 and wheel 6. Theroller is rotatably secured to portion 3 of the land by shank bolt 10.Further, element 9 is secured to wheel 6 by means of screws, one ofwhich is shown in phantom view at 12. The adjustable slide lockmechanism is generally indicated at 13 and is composed of substantiallyright angular element 14 shown in detail in FIGS. 3 and 3a. As can beseen in FIG. 1, but referring also to FIGS. 2, 2a, 3, and 3a, a pin 15is secured in land portion 3 and coacts with slot 16 of FIG. 3 toposition pin 15 at the base of slot 16. When right angular element 14 ofthe slide lock is rotated in counterclockwise direction the roller 5 isadjusted with respect to the pipe to be bent and wheel 6 and the shankbolt 10 is tightened. Shank bolt 10 in this embodiment extends intoelement 14 so that bolt 10 secures together wheel 5, land 3 and element14. In lieu of shank bolt 10 there can be used a bolt or machine screwwhich extends upwardly from under land 3 and land 4. Such a screw canserve to fasten element 14 up under land 3.

With reference to FIGS. 1, 10, 10a, 11, and 11a the tube grippingelements 17 and 18 coact when elements 8 and 9 are brought together bythe action of shanked bolt 11 to grip or hold the tube in thecylindrical or tubular channel 20 formed by said elements 17 and 18.

Referring to elements 17 and 18 which in this embodiment form the tubegripping or holding jaws, it will be seen that element 17 has a bottomportion terminating upon element or handle 9 and that jaw or element 18has a bottom portion terminating at the lower level at the top surfaceof element or handle 8. Thus, channel 20 is formed and aligned with theaxis of a tube nested in the groove of wheel 6. This particulararrangement of the combination of the gripping jaws and the wheel 6constitutes an important feature of my invention and 1 in combinationwith the two-level land. A further feature of the invention, one skilledin the art will see, is that shank bolts 10 provide for rotationtherearound of roller 5 and wheel 6, respectively.

While wheel 6 has been shown as a unitary element, it is possible toprovide the same composed of two or more pieces; for example, a bottomhalf and a top half; thus, the top portion of a composited wheel 6 canbe removed as when a tube has been bent more than 180.

For sake of completeness, though it may not be necessary for one skilledin the art, viewing the drawings, FIGS. 4 and 5 show the holes throughwhich or into which the respective bolts or screws which have beenmentioned are placed. Detailed description of these figures is omittedfor sake of brevity. The combination of the figures clearly elucidatesto one skilled in the art just how the details of the apparatus areconstructed and how the elements are brought into operativerelationships.

Referring specifically to wheel 6 which is shown in FIGS. 7 and 7a, inthis embodiment of the invention, the upper flange has been cut alongthe chord of a circle facing the roller 5 and directly opposite theretoat the jaws of the plier-like tube holding or gripping means. This formor design of wheel 6 permits a more compact apparatus in that the tubecan be more readily inserted and removed from between roller 5 and wheel6 and also from around wheel 6 and from the gripping jaws when these areopened. Further, slide lock 14 need only be moved in a direction awayfrom wheel 6 sufficiently to insert and to remove the tube as will beunderstood by one skilled in the art. When many tubes have to be bentand/or when working in confined space, the feature of wheel 6 herediscussed requires less motion of the slide lock and roller 5 and ofelement 8.

Though it is now preferred that the portion of roller 5 and wheel 6contacted by the tube during bending form as nearly as possible anespousal of the tube, it is clear that a complete espousal is not alwaysnecessary. For example, a somewhat different radius of curvature for oneor both the rollerand wheel might be used with respect to a tube ofgiven radius, or

the same shape and size of curvature of roller 5 andwheel 6 can be usedwith tubes of different radii. Thus a series of tubes of different radiican be bent acceptably without changing, necessarily, a given set ofroller 5 and wheel 6. Tubes which can be bent according to the inventioncan have other than a circular cross section, as will be understood byone skilled in the art in possession of this disclosure.

Such tubes as discussed herein can be accommodated readily by suitableadjustment of shank bolt 10 and locking element 14 in view of the slot22 in land 3 through which shank bolt 10 passes.

Depending upon the material of construction of the tube; i.e., thenature of its bendability, roller 5 and/or wheel 6 need not be groovedor recessed at the point of contact with the tube; thus, so long as thetube will bend acceptably at wheel 6 without being deformed unacceptablyby roller 5, the configuration of roller 5 and/or wheel 6 can be of anydesired shape.

Reasonable variation and modification are possible within the scope ofthe foregoing disclosure, the drawing and the appended claims to theinvention the essence of which is that there has been provided a tubebender, a tube gripper or holding means and a combination in a tubebender of said tube holder and in a specific embodiment, the tubebending means with which the tube holder is combined comprises arotatable tube roller and a wheel which moves in fixed relation with thetube holder as it is moved to bend the tube around said wheel with aidof said rotatable tube roller; the tube holding means in one embodimentcomprising a plier-like arrangement having the tube holding means formedin the form of elements or jaws as described; and also, the tube rollerbeing slidably mounted and locked to permit adjustment thereof withrespect to the tube to be bent and the wheel around which the tube is tobe bent; and, finally, that a wheel design has been set forth whichpermits ready disengagement of the bent tube as well as engagement ofthe tube to be bent, especially when working in confined spaces.

I claim:

1. A tube bender comprising a pliers-like tube gripper having twopivoted handles and having coacting jaw portions one on each handleadapted to grip a tube when the handles are moved towards each other,said pliers being pivotally fixed to a pivot with a wheel also fixed tosaid pivot around which the tube to be bent is bent by actuating saidtube gripper, and a roller positioned to encompass a tube between saidroller and said wheel, the roller functioning to hold the tube againstsaid wheel while the tube is drawn around said wheel by activating saidroller.

2. A tube bender according to claim 1 wherein the tube gripper iscomprised of a pliers-type portion, the jaws of which are shaped toconform to the shape of the tube and to hold the same therebetween.

3. A tube bender according to claim 2 wherein one handle of thepliers-like means and said wheel are fixed together and are rotatableabout said pivot.

4. A tube bender according to claim 1 having a pivotally fixed tubesupporting wheel, a pliers-like tube gripping means for holding andbending a tube around said wheel, and a roller positioned to encompass atube between said roller and said wheel to roll said tube to said wheelwhile bending the same by actuating said gripping means to bend saidtube around said wheel.

5. A tube bender according to claim 1 having a hand grippable means,having a land portion at one end portion thereof and a hand grippablesection extending from said land portion toward the other end of saidmeans; a rotatable tube roller mounted on said land; a tube holdingmeans pivotally fixed by a pivot to said land adjacent said roller; awheel on said pivot positioned in a manner to permit a tube to fitbetween said roller and said wheel; said wheel being fixed to at least aportion of said tube holding means and thus adapted to rotate about saidpivot together with said tube holding means.

6. A tube bender according to claim 1 wherein there is provided aslidable lock means, the rotatable tube roller is mounted on said landby means of an element about which it can pivot and said element andsaid slide lock means coact to lock said rotatable roller in said landin a position with respect to said wheel to encompass the tube to bebent between said roller and said wheel.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE CERTIFICATE. OF CORRECTION Patent No.3,662,580 T ated: May 16, 1970 It is certified tht error appears in theabove-identified patent and that Letters Patent are hereby corrected asshown below:

Column 6 line 7, "1" should be 5 Signed and sealed this 9th day' ofJanuary 1973.

(SEAL) Attest:

EDWARD M.FLETQHER,JR. ROBERT GOTTSCHALK Attesting Officer Commissionerof Patents

1. A tube bender comprising a pliers-like tube gripper having twopivoted handles and having coacting jaw portions one on each handleadapted to grip a tube when the handles are moved towards each other,said pliers being pivotally fixed to a pivot with a wheel also fixed tosaid pivot around which the tube to be bent is bent by actuating saidtube gripper, and a roller positioned to encompass a tube between saidroller and said wheel, the roller functioning to hold the tube againstsaid wheel while the tube is drawn around said wheel by activating saidroller.
 2. A tube bender according to claim 1 wherein the tube gripperis comprised of a pliers-type portion, the jaws of which are shaped toconform to the shape of the tube and to hold the same therebetween.
 3. Atube bender according to claim 2 wherein one handle of the pliers-likemeans and said wheel are fixed together and are rotatable about saidpivot.
 4. A tube bender according to claim 1 having a pivotally fixedtube supporting wheel, a pliers-like tube gripping means for holding andbending a tube around said wheel, and a roller positioned to encompass atube between said roller and said wheel to roll said tube to said wheelwhile bending the same by actuating said gripping means to bend saidtube around said wheel.
 5. A tube bender according to claim 1 having ahand grippable means, having a land portion at one end portion thereofand a hand grippable section extending from said land portion toward theother end of said means; a rotatable tube roller mounted on said land; atube holding means pivotally fixed by a pivot to said land adjacent saidroller; a wheel on said pivot positioned in a manner to permit a tube tofit between said roller and said wheel; said wheel being fixed to atleast a portion of said tube holding means and thus adapted to rotateabout said pivot together with said tube holding means.
 6. A tube benderaccording to claim 1 wherein there is provided a slidable lock means,the rotatable tube roller is mounted on said land by means of an elementabout which it can pivot and said element and said slide lock meanscoact to lock said rotatable roller in said land in a position withrespect to said wheel to encompass the tube to be bent between saidroller and said wheel.